1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an isolator system including an isolator, in which a sterile operation area is arranged, and a pass box for introducing an object into the sterile operation area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, a culture of human cells and tissues, and the operation and research thereof are performed in a facility called a cell processing center (CPC). In such a facility, the interior of a building is divided into a plurality of rooms and these rooms are arranged so that cleanliness thereof is enhanced stepwise. A space in which a cell vessel is opened is an important operation region required to have the highest cleanliness environment of grade A. An ambient environment thereof, which is a direct support region, is required to be grade B with the second highest cleanliness. Further, a two-step improvement of cleanliness is required to go from a general environment of grade D through grade C to reach the grade B cleanliness level of the direct support region (for example, see “Regeneration Medicine Field (Design guideline for human cell culture device (revised)”, Development Guideline 2009, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 2010, February).
Under present circumstances, when conducting regenerative medical research using cell cultures as described above, the preparation of facilities including a building is required, causing substantial facility investment and maintenance costs. Here, in a case of adopting an isolator that can ensure sterility, the inside of a sterile operation area can be maintain at a grade A cleanliness level even if an ambient environment thereof is grade D as long as a pass box having a decontamination function is equipped for transporting an object to and from the inside of the sterile operation area. Further, even in a case of using a pass box without a decontamination capabilities, it is possible to use the inside of the sterile operation area as a grade A environment by setting the environment of the pass box to grade B while sequentially enhancing a general environment to grade D and grade C.
There is known an isolator system that includes a pass box having a decontamination function and an isolator system that includes a pass box without a decontamination function (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 4924570 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-44964).
An isolator system according to an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4924570 includes an isolator compartment having the inside thereof maintained in a sterile condition, a pass box for transporting an object to and from the isolator compartment that is connected to the isolator compartment, and a decontamination gas supply unit which supplies decontamination gas into the isolator compartment and the pass box.
A sterile operation device according to an invention disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-44964 includes a hydrogen peroxide vapor supply unit which supplies hydrogen peroxide vapor into an operation area isolated from an external environment and decontaminates the inside of the operation area.